Alistair Overeem Will Not Fight the Heavyweight Title Fight at Glory Kickboxing

Alistair Overeem has withdrawn from his heavyweight title bout against Glory Heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven.

Overeem was supposed to make a return to kickboxing at Glory: Collison 3 on the 23rd of October, 2021. An undisclosed injury has forced the former to withdraw from the contest. The promotion made an official announcement on Instagram on Wednesday. Overeem won’t be able to compete until early 2022.

Glory has not announced whether Rico will stay on the card and defend his title or not. The fight was going to take place at GelreDome stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands.

Overeem tried and got some treatment for the injury, but it kept getting worse, because of which he and his team withdrew from the bout.

ALSO READ: “I’ll Tell That to His Face”- Henry Cejudo Says Why Georges St-Pierre Escaped His Tough UFC Challenges

Alistair Overeem – Career and return to kickboxing

Overeem is someone you would most definitely call an MMA legend and veteran. He is a former Strikeforce and DREAM Heavyweight champion and made a name for himself in several promotions before joining the UFC.

‘The Demolition Man’ joined the UFC in 2011 and made his debut against the former UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar. Alistair dominated the former champ after hitting him with brutal knees and winning the fight via TKO in the first round. He went up against some of the biggest names in the world of MMA and got wins over Frank Mir, Junior Dos Santos, and Andrei Arlovski, among others.

Overeem’s last fight in the UFC came at UFC Fight Night 184, against Alexander Volkov in February 2021. He lost the fight via a TKO and parted ways with the promotion. In a run that started in 2011, Overeem had a record of 12-8 in the UFC.

Alistair was scheduled to return to kickboxing for the first time since 2010. Overeem put out a post on Instagram, telling everyone about the injury. Overeem in the post said, “I deeply regret that I have to pull out of the fight against Rico Verhoeven on Oct 23th. I’ve never pulled out a fight before and trust me, this decision was hard to make. I’ve been dealing with the injury for over a month.”

He also said that even if he was close to 80 percent, he would’ve gone ahead with the bout. He added, “Even if I was at 90% now, or 80% maybe even, I would have gotten into that ring. But I’m at 40% and that’s not enough.”

This surely comes as an enormous blow for ‘The Demolition Man’ as he announced in an interview that he is planning to finish his career in 18 months.

What do you think the future holds for Alistair Overeem? Let us know in the comments!

WATCH THIS STORY: Top 5 Biggest Rivalries in the History of the UFC